Sunday, August 12, 2012

There were many who went absolutely nuts over my most recent newspaper column. All I did was to quote our Campaigner-in-Chief exactly as he had spoken at a rally in Roanoke, Virginia on July 13th, and then tell the story of how my wife and I created and managed our own small business over a 33-year period. I offered up the Golfer-in-Chief's quote, then I added a paragraph of our story, then re-quoted the TelePrompTer-in-Chief's quote, and another piece of our story, etc.

I did this over and over, just to let the reader understand that we did build our business, and we did it without the Government. In fact, I think I made the case that the Government did everything in its power to keep us from succeeding. And when we finally broke through and made a little money, the Government picked our pockets so it could build those infamous roads and bridges.

Well, Mr. and Mrs. You-know-who-you-are, the loonies came out of the woodwork! I was told over and over, anonymously, of course, because they are spineless weenies, that I had taken "The One" out of context. That he had been referring to "roads and bridges" when he said, "If you have a business, you didn't build that." Obviously, if they are correct, the Smartest-Man-Who-Ever-Lived must have missed the class where he learned how to diagram a sentence, in favor of a doing a couple of doobies with his best buds on the beach. Somehow or other, "build that" in my estimation, is singular. "Build those" would have been better. But, then again, what do I know?

So, did I in fact take the Fundraiser-in-Chief out of context? I'll let you decide. Follows is a direct quotation of every silver-coated word that dripped off the Vacationer-in-Chief's lips that day as it relates to the subject at hand. Did he tell me I didn't build my business, or did he tell me I couldn't have built my business without his roads and bridges? And, in context, is his statement worse than the now-infamous two fateful sentences? I'll let you decide.

And so, without further ado, here it is...

"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me - because they want to give something back. They know they didn't - look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something - there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there (emphasis mine).

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business - you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen (emphasis mine). The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.(*)

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don't do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires."

Well, what do you think? I know what I think. In fact, I was willing to write it in a Major Metropolitan Daily newspaper. Now, you decide...

* By the way, Mr. Know-it-All, the Internet was created as a result of high-level collaboration between several major universities around the country. The original super-computer, ENIAC, occupied the entire second floor of a UCLA building. It was used to prove that the concept of the to-be-called Internet worked. When it did, the military began to recognize the potential for communications it represented. Only later did business begin to try to exploit its potential. It was not created by Government research, and it was not created to foster profit by private business. (And Al Gore had nothing to do with it...except in his head.) But everything else the Prevaricator-in-Chief said that day about it was correct. Which is, nothing.

In summation, to all my should-be fans in the Newport-Mesa area, I'd like to thank you for your unkind comments. I'd like to do that, but I can't.